He had in truth been raised to the throne because men were weary of Richard.

He was chosen to vindicate no theory of hereditary or other abstract right, but to govern with a firm hand, to establish peace within his gates and give prosperity to his people.

That was the true Tudor title, and, as a rule, they remembered the fact; they were _de facto_ kings, and they left the _de jure_ arguments to the Stuarts.
Peace, however, could not be obtained at once, nor the embers of (p.

009) thirty years' strife stamped out in a moment.

For fifteen years open revolt and whispered sedition troubled the rest of the realm and threatened the stability of Henry's throne.